Three whales

One of the wonderful things about poker is that no matter how long you play, you can still experience all-time records, either for you personally or for the table as a whole (with you as a participant). Last night, something so unusual occurred that I wrote a utility to figure out whether or not it was a record; I had the feeling it was and the utility corroborated that. The record was for the largest amount of total chips held by live players at a pot limit Hold'em table at which I had a seat. Note that this doesn't mean all the chips were in play in a specific hand, but all the chips had the potential to be put into play.

Since pot limit tables have a maximum initial stake, the only way for the total chips at the table to grow is for some players to hit the felt and be replaced by other players who bring in new money. For the total chips in play at the table to grow really large, it requires that the big winners keep playing instead of cashing out, and also that they keep winning. Last night, the table I joined had one really big stack at the beginning, but two players also grew their stacks to huge amounts and all three kept playing. I was porpoising up and down a bit, but eventually realized a nice gain and cashed out. I was hoping to catch a tidal wave, but it never came.

A really good amount of total money at a 9 player $40,000 max initial stake table would be 9 * $40,000, or $360,000. You very rarely see that; a lot of players like to join for the minimum stake (which I think is $12,000), and a lot of players (including me) like to cash out when they've doubled up. So to have a player grow his stack to over $100,000 is no ordinary achievement; I've only done it 2 or 3 times in close to 2 1/2 years of play. For 3 players to do that at the same time at the same table is truly extraordinary.

So (drumroll, please), here's the record: at one point last night, the total chips at the table hit $851,125. That's the highest total of the 6,353 pot limit Hold'em hands I've played for which I've saved the history. That's a sick amount of money at one table, even if it is play money!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 84 hands and saw flop:
- 9 out of 12 times while in big blind (75%)
- 8 out of 11 times while in small blind (72%)
- 32 out of 61 times in other positions (52%)
- a total of 49 out of 84 (58%)
Pots won at showdown - 7 of 15 (46%)
Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $22,260
balance: $964,723